A Friendship To Last A Hundred Lifetimes
by romirola
Summary: Aida-fic! "When I was 10, Radames saved me from being beaten to death by the palace guards. He promised he'd look out for me from then on. He's kept that promise." An in-depth look at this unlikely friendship of Mereb and Radames, and how it all began.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there! Here's an prequel "Aida" fic for you. I hope you enjoy it. I really didn't know the age difference between Radames and Mereb, so Radames is 17, and Mereb is 10. Enjoy!**

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**A Friendship To Last A Hundred Lifetimes**

"You can't keep me locked up in this place forever!" seventeen-year old Radames bellowed at his father. "I want to see faraway places, and travel the world. How can you expect me to stay cooped up in the palace for the rest of my life?"

"Quite easily, actually," Prime Minister Zoser retorted back at his teenage son. "You are still a boy, and no boy of mine will be traipsing around the Nile, cavorting with those uncivilized barbarians!" He dismissed his son and turned to go, but Radames insisted on continuing the conversation.

"This is my life!" he burst out.

"I can't take the chance of having you suffering from any injuries in battle," Zoser casually answered. "If you want to be the Pharaoh of all Egypt someday…"

"I never said I wanted to be Pharaoh…" Radames mumbled, ignoring the speech Zoser had repeated to Radames many times over the years, but it was obvious his father didn't hear him.

"Uh-huh. Now run along. I've important matters to attend to." Without another word, Zoser left his son standing in one of the extravagant halls of the palace. Defeated for the moment, Radames decided to resign to his quarters and practice his sword fighting techniques.

"When I'm eighteen, no one is going to stop from me discovering new lands," he vowed to himself. "I'll-"

"Oops!" The surprised exclamation, followed by a loud crash, startled Radames out of his thoughts. "No please… I didn't mean… Ow! I'm sorry, please!" The sound of a whip cracking through the air was head by Radames. Then again. And again.

Intrigued by the noise, Radames turned the corner to go investigate. The situation that met Radames was one that he was all too familiar with. A slave, probably Nubian, was getting beaten by some of the palace guards. It was nothing new, but Radames couldn't shake the feeling of sympathy that swept over him. After all, the slave was so young to be taking such a beating.

"Stop!" The command escaped Radames's lips before he could silence it, but honestly, he wasn't sure if he had really wanted to keep quiet. To his surprise, Radames's order went unheeded, or possibly unheard, not that he cared which. The result was the same, and it was unacceptable.

"I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" a guard threatened vehemently, increasing the strength he hit the now-whimpering boy with.

"I said 'stop'," Radames repeated with more conviction, finally getting the attention of the two guards there, now staring at the young man. The guard with the bloody whip in his hand straightened and let go of the youth, allowing his wounded body to drop to the floor. Before his brown eyes fluttered closed, they flickered up to meet Radames's gaze.

"Sir," the other guard greeted, lowering slightly to show his respect. The older guard remained still.

"What crime has he committed?" Radames inquired, trying to sound as official and important as his father did when he discussed business matters.

The guard, clearly upset at Radames for disturbing his disciplinary acts, gestured at the broken glass that was scattered across the floor. "This clumsy little slave dropped the glass vase intended to be a gift for Princess Amneris's sixteenth birthday next week," he informed with distaste. "I was merely reprimanding the boy for his-"

"Accident," Radames curtly finished for the man. "I hardly think death is the punishment for an understandable mistake. "Besides," he remarked. "A simple vase is not anything desired by the Princess. In fact, I doubt 'simple' is in her vocabulary," smiled Radames, whose thoughts strayed to his future wife. Once his eyes lay on the child again, the smile disappeared. "Get a broom and sweep this mess up," he ordered. "Broken glass can be dangerous around here, you know."

"Of course," the same guard replied, clenching his teeth. "I'll alert a handmaiden about this right away." He began to exit.

"I said to clean this up, and I meant now," Radames annunciated threateningly.

"Sir, I hardly believe sweeping a man's work!" the guard protested with an inconceivable expression on his face.

"I agree," Radames responded. "Now do as I order."

The two guards begrudgingly did as Radames commanded. Satisfied that his will was being carried out, Radames walked over to the Nubian boy and hoisted his across his shoulders. He was alarmed, but not totally surprised, at how light the slave was.

"He was down working in the copper mines," the aggressive guard told Radames. "I'm sure he's expected back there."

"The boy is no good to us dead," retorted Radames. "I'll do with him as I see fit. That's my job. You do yours." With that, Radames turned his heel and headed back to his quarters, trying to hide the smile on his lips that came from asserting his authority for the first time.

"Yes, sir," the guards simultaneously spit out.

Without another word, Radames left the two men to their task, and started down the hall towards his quarters with the child still on his back.

*****

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**That's the first chapter! Did you like it? Please review, and let me know what you thought! Reviews just make my day! See you next chapter, and as always, thanks for reading! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I guess "Aida" isn't that popular among many fanfiction readers. That's okay, because if you are reading this, I always update my stories. Reviews or no reviews. Here's the second chapter. Enjoy!!**

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"Hey. Hey! Are you awake?"

The boy heard the urgent call that was beckoning him to consciousness, and although he was becoming more and more aware of his surroundings, he did not open his eyes. Instead, he froze in place, not trying to draw attention to himself.

Radames suspected the boy was awake, but he decided not to let on. "If you were thirsty, I could give you some water. But, I can't give water to an unconscious man," he remarked into the boy's ear.

His thirst getting the better of him, the Nubian allowed his eyes to fly open. He silently gazed at Radames, who understood that the look was an unspoken plea for water.

"Here." Radames handed a glass of water to the injured youth, watching with fascination as he greedily sipped the cool liquid. "My name is Radames," he introduced. "You know, you had me believing that you were out of it for a while. Someday, you'll make a great con-man."

"Thank you for the water," was the boy's quiet reply. He eased himself back onto the pillow of Radames's bed, wincing as he felt his whip-wounds ache and sting. It was at that moment he realized he was in one of the rooms at the palace.

"What is your name?" Radames curiously asked of the slave.

"Mereb," he quickly answered. "Why am I here?"

"Those palace guards would've beaten you to death back there. I saved you." Radames tried to show disinterest towards Mereb, but he felt such a connection with the child.

Mereb turned his face away, willing himself not to cry. "You should've let me die."

Radames was troubled by this. He grabbed a chair and sat down beside Mereb. "Why?"

"I hate it here," Mereb honestly stated. "I hate being treated as a slave. I hate having to serve anyone who orders me around. I hate the copper mines, and I especially hate all you Egyptians."

Radames lifted his chin above Mereb and cocked an eyebrow. "You should feel privileged to be a servant on Egyptian soil," Radames coyly responded. "You could've been killed right then and there. You captors had mercy on you for allowing you to become a slave."

"I. Am. Not. A slave." Mereb's voice, although a bit squeaky, did not falter. "In my home country, I was-"

"You're not in Nubia anymore," Radames cut off. "If you'd just get used to the idea of being Egyptian-"

This time, it was Mereb who cut off Radames. "I'm a Nubian. I was born a Nubian, and I will die a Nubian," he asserted with conviction. Mereb's voice was almost to the point of breaking, but he pushed that feeling aside. "I just want to go home."

"This is your home now," Radames insisted. "The quicker you get used to that, the happier you'll be."

"How can I ever be happy here?" Mereb sighed. "I'll all alone." He idly traced the elaborate pattern of the gold blanket, almost scared to look into Radames's eyes. This was the first time Mereb felt any security since his capture.

"There are other Nubians in the slave camps," Radames stated, although as he continued speaking, the teenager became more and more unsure of himself. Slave capturing and its practices weren't areas of expertise for Radames. "Wasn't the rest of our family captured with you?" I always figured…"

"Some of my brothers and sisters escaped," Mereb confided. "But I don't know how they'll survive after what those soldiers did to my village. My mother was sold to some other place then here, but I don't know where. My father was… killed, because he started to argue with the ship's Captain. Right there. In front of everybody," he recounted. "I miss them."

Radames took a good look at Mereb, and he realized he honestly felt sorry for the kid. He was surprised at the cruelty the young boy had been forced to face. Zoser had done a good job sheltering Radames from the 'spoils' of war and conquest, but now, the truth was becoming much too real for the seventeen-year-old.

"But don't you have any friends?" Radames persisted. "I mean, you-" Radames didn't finish his sentence when he noticed Mereb's eyelids were slipping downwards. "Are you okay?"

"I… don't feel so good…" Mereb mumbled. He tried to blink away the fuzziness that suddenly overcame him, but his efforts were not rewarded. Without warning, Mereb's head drooped forward and hung limply on his left shoulder.

"Mereb? Mereb?!" Radames called, trying to rouse the boy. This time, Mereb wasn't faking.

Radames leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I can't let Father see him here," he mused to himself. Radames knew that Zoser would never allow a slave to be cared for in the palace, let alone by Radames.

"No, no!" Mereb cried, his head lolling back and forth on his shoulders. "No, I don't wanna go! Just leave me alone!"

"Shh, shh," Radames spoke softly in Mereb's ear. Even Radames could tell the child was trapped in a nightmare. "Mereb, calm down. You have to be quiet!" he urged, and grabbed Mereb's flailing limbs in an effort to quiet him.

"Get away from me!" Mereb fearfully exclaimed, desperately trying to break free from Radames's grip. He couldn't succeed, and Mereb succumbed to Radames's begging. "Please?" he quietly added. "Please, leave me alone."

"I wish I could make them," Radames honestly confided to the now-sleeping boy. "I always knew that a slave's life wasn't perfect," he mentioned out loud, even though Radames was just talking to himself. "But I… I never thought about a slave's life before coming to Egypt."

After another quick glance over towards Mereb, Radames relaxed back in his chair. With his left arm settled on the armrest, Radames took the indulgence of leaning his head on his hand. Thoughts of his new-found knowledge swirled around in a dizzying mess until Radames finally drifted off to sleep, too.

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**I'd really love to have a review dropped my way, but either way, thanks for reading! See you next chapter! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello!!! Anyone there? Haha. Haven't been getting much (any) feedback on this, so I hope someone is still liking this! (Or... reading this.....) Anyway, enjoy!**

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Hours later, he wasn't sure how long it had been, Mereb awoke to a dark room and a sleeping Radames beside his bed. He stared at Radames for a moment, silently wondering why this Egyptian had been so nice to him.

Mereb didn't really know all that much about the conflict between Nubia and Egypt. All the ten-year-old knew was that Egyptians didn't like Nubians. They came into Nubia, uninvited, and took many Nubians away, like Mereb. Mereb couldn't think of any idea why the two countries couldn't just be friends. Wouldn't that be easier than fighting?

Radames was the first Egyptian who seemed like he really cared about Mereb. It confused the boy at first, but once the initial shock wore off, Mereb began to see Radames as a friend.

"Hey… Radames?" Mereb loudly whispered, waking Radames up. "Are you sleeping?"

"Not anymore," Radames grumbled. He rubbed at his hazel eyes to chase away the lingering feelings of sleep.

"G'morning," Mereb sheepishly greeted, even though it was the middle of the night.

"Mereb!" Radames leaned over to get a better look at the young Nubian. "You're looking a lot better."

"I feel it," Mereb truthfully answered. "I… I don't think I told you yesterday, but I… well, thank you," he hesitated, stumbling over his words. "F-for yesterday." Out of shame, Mereb's eyes became downcast, unable to make contact with Radames. "You're right. I'm nothing but a slave now. I'm sorry I ever thought anything different."

"No, Mereb," Radames refuted. "I'm the one who's sorry. I had no right to say those things to you. Your courage is really something to be admired."

"I'm not courageous," Mereb denied. "And you had every right. I was ungrateful."

"But you are!" persevered Radames. "Believe me." Mereb opened his mouth to protest, but Radames quickly put his hand up to stop him and dismissed the subject. "You said yesterday that you were all alone. Is that true?"

Mereb quietly nodded. "I just miss my family."

"I know I'm not anything like your family," Radames sighed. He put a firm hand on Mereb's shoulder. "But I promise, from now on, I'll be here to look out for you."

Mereb scoffed at what he thought was a hallow promise made out of pity. "What? You mean you'll be down in the mines, protecting me?"

"The mines…" Radames repeated, knowing full well about the mortality of an adult worker in the copper mines, much less an already-injured kid. "What if I said you wouldn't have to go back down into the mines?"

"Really?" Mereb beamed. "I'd-" Once he'd gained control of himself, Mereb spoke again. "Where would I be instead of the mines?" the Nubian asked timidly.

"Here, of course," Radames smiled. "You would be my personal servant. My father has been hounding me to get one, anyway. It's your choice. But Mereb, I promise, I'll be good to you."

Mereb dramatically paused, making it look like he was deep in thought. In all honesty, his mind had already been made up. "Okay. I accept." he agreed. "Anything to get out of the mines. I'll be your personal slave."

"Excellent," Radames responded. "Just so you know, I'll not think of you as a personal servant, but as a friend."

"Thank you, sir," Mereb replied. "I'll think of you as a friend, and not as a master." Mereb caught Radames off guard as he wrapped his arms around the teenager and pressed his head into Radames's chest. "I promise I won't let you down."

"I'm sure of it, Mereb," Radames warmly assured. "And I promise that I will always be here to take care of you."

END

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**That's the end of the story! I hope you enjoyed it! As always, I'd love a review. Thanks for reading! **


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